HP CP2025n review

Not the fastest device, but printing costs aren't bad and photo quality is outstanding

HP's CP2025n is the cheapest and most attractive printer on test. lt's also the smallest, so would be ideal if space is an issue in your school. All the same, that small size doesn't necessarily mean it has little to offer.

For a start, it's simple to install, either on a single computer or over a network. The CP2025n has a 10/100 Ethernet connection and no wireless connectivity, but it's very easy to set up on the network to either a switch or router. In fact, HP's browser-based tools make carrying out all tasks an easy experience.

Despite its compact size, the printer still manages to cram in a 250-sheet paper tray, plus an additional 50-sheet flap that can support transparencies, card and other types of media.

Print quality is one of the HP's strengths, with excellent results both for black-and-white text and colour graphics. The CP2025n also did a really good job of printing photographs, with almost inkjet-quality results. Of all the printers in this test, the HP was the one where children were most visibly bowled over by the output.

While the price of colour cartridges is high, so is their capacity. Although a full set will cost you around £320, at 2,800 pages you can expect a cost per page of 11.4p in colour and 2.2p in black-and-white.

In use the printer isn't the fastest, coming in at about 14 pages per minute in our tests. lt also takes a long time to warm up before printing: the slow start won't be a problem if you're doing larger print-runs, but for single-use printing it will start to become annoying. The CP2025n is fairly noisy too; this will be an issue in the average classroom.

This is a shame, as while the HP CP2025n isn't the best choice for bulk printing, it could work out well in a classroom environment. Here, its outstanding print quality, nice design and reasonable selling price make it a good choice. So if you can live with the racket, it's well worth considering.